Young and Alive
by ladydeadpool87
Summary: Krystal is a young, emotional and inexperienced girl who is living her life in the zombie Apocalypse the best she can. She joins ricks group after a fated encounter with him, and she learns how to cope with the drastic, dramatic, and deadly changes of the world she once knew.
1. Days Gone Bye

When this had all started, she was on her own, her only weapons being a gun that her mother gave her, and a stainless steel kitchen knife and her father's stainless steel campers ax. She might've been eight years old, but she definitely wasn't stupid. She was actually quiet intelligent for her age, intelligent enough to use a weapon.

Feeling hungry, she stopped by a drug store hoping to find a snack, or one of those lunchables she loved to eat before it spoils rotten like everything else in the world.

Grabbing her hello kitty backpack (decorated with bright purple daisies and sunflowers), she stuffed all she could into it, along with the last remaining bottles of cold water.

That was the only thing she carried in her backpack, that, and a pack of children's underwear that her parents had for her when they fled their home.

Tears stung at her eyes as memories from the day before struck her mind. It was still fresh, and hurt so bad that it ached, but she remembered the promise that she made to her mother and father, the promise to live no matter how much it hurts, no matter how lonely she feels, to be a strong person and continue on. To hang onto hope even if there seems like there isn't any. She also made the promise to always believe in god no matter what happens. Blood curdling screams filled the air as she hid behind the dumpster, just as her mother instructed her to do. She knew if she didn't move quick enough, she'd be next on the menu.

She scrambled away as her mother yelled the words "run!"

The yelling of the word "run" was filled with the most painful, blood curdling scream that she has ever heard. That was the part that she wanted to forget; the sound of pain and the sound of her mother's flesh being torn apart as she took off down the ally. Her mother sacrificed herself so that she could get away. She knew that in a situation where it was between life or death, her mother would sacrifice herself to save her husband and her children. Unfortunately, her father was out with his crew when they attacked the hotel, and neither her or her mother knew if he made it out alive.

Despite the pain, death and destruction surrounding her, she wanted to remember the good things about her parents, to keep them fresh alive in her heart. That way, her mom and dad weren't really gone. She knew that if she kept good memories with her, she would be able to stand strong and fight against this deadly world, because she would be fighting for her family.

Climbing up the ladder from further around the corner, she almost slipped and fell down to the group of walkers that gathered below her, but somebody grabbed her hand and yanked her up. It was a bit forceful.

"Ow!" She whimpered, rubbing her wrist.

"Sorry, are you alright?" The man bent down to help her up, being more gentle this time.

She stared at him at first, before handing her hand to him. She didn't respond right away, and settled for poking at the ground with her feet instead.

The man studied her for a bit, removing the binoculars slowly from his eyes. He previously was going to speak into the device that was in his hands until he got bumped into by the little girl, who couldn't have been no older than eight years old, her height reached to about the hips or lower. She was a cute little thing even with blood smeared all over her clothes and face, some looked like it was even in her hair.

He sighed when she didn't respond and went to speak into the walkie-talkie instead, "Hey, you. Dumbass in the truck."

The girl jumped a little, not expecting that kind of talking from him. He continued as he looked at her out the corner of his eyes, "Are you comfy in there?"

"Hello?"

"Hello? Are you there?"

"Yeah,"

"You had me wondering," The voice on the other end of the talkie said, followed by angry static.

"I have eyes out here,"

"How many?"

"Dude, you're surrounded. If you were on this side and saw it for yourself, you'd be having a major freak out."

"Is there an escape route?"

"Yeah, you have an opening on your left. I'd make a run for it if I were you."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"It's not as stupid as it sounds. If you move now, you still have a chance. With me so far?"

"So far. What about my guns?"

"Guns?"

"Yeah, I had a bag full of ammo and I dropped them on the way over here."

"Forget them, they're not important. What's important is that you get the hell outta there. Like, sometime today, preferably."

"Alright,"

"What do you have on you?"

"A berretta with one clip. 15 rounds. "

"There's an ally down the street, 50 yards. Be there. I'm on my way right now."

Krystal and the asian guy (Korean? Chinese? She wasn't sure) looked over the edge of the roof, watching as the other man that he was talking to pulled the top of the tank aside. He slipped out, and as soon as he did so the herd noticed him immediately, even though majority of them had been distracted by the fallen horse, the other half of the herd's attention was brought back to the police officer as he dashed across the street, shooting at them as he sprinted down toward the buildings.

Krystal's heart pounded in her chest as the officer continued sprinting, she was worried about him getting swarmed because of the amount of noise the gun was making.

Together, Krystal and the guy who helped her earlier made their way to the location, both of them pulling down the ladder. When the officer finally made it to them, he made his way up quickly. Now over the roof, the trio rolled the rest of the ladder up into the walk way. The metal clicked with a loud "ding".

"Are you the new sheriff that came in to clean up the town?" Glenn asked, tilting an eyebrow.

The "sheriff" tilted his hat, "Not my intention."

"Yeah whatever," Said Glenn with a roll of his eyes. "Yee haw."

"Dumbass." The officer placed his hands on his hips, giving a light bounce on his feet.

Krystal giggled, "Nice to meet you both. My name's Krystal."

"Rick."

"Glenn."

Glenn looked over the roof edge again, grimacing at the sight below. "Oh man. If we're lucky, it's gonna be the fall that kills us."

Rick and Krystal stared at him like he grew a thousand alien heads, causing Glenn to smirk. "What? I'm a glass half full kinda guy!"

The growling and moaning from the walkers grew louder and louder below them.

Rick raised his volume, "did you put up those barricades?"

"No," Glenn sighed, licking the dryness out of his lips, "I guess somebody did when the city got over run."

"Back at the tank, why'd you stick your neck out for me?" Rick asked.

Glenn smiled, "Same reason why I helped this little girl. Call it naive hope if you want, but if it were me, I'd be wanting somebody to help me outta that hell hole."

"Thanks." Rick followed Glenn and Krystal toward the door that led to the back of the department store's storage room.

"No problem," Glenn held the door for them, the door slamming in after them with a strained shriek.

* * *

A/N: I know this has been done before, but I don't really care. This is MY version of what's been done. I'm tired of running into these types of stories and the author never finishes it and leaves you hanging. You guys won't have to worry about that with this fanfic. I love to write, and reviews motivate me. They give me hope that people enjoy reading what I write, and it helps to get feedback as well through the reviews. Let me know what you think in the comments, and if I should keep things unique from the show or leave it as it is!


	2. What Goes Down, Stays Down

The trio were able to make it inside, where an African woman, an African-american male, a Spanish male, and your typical blue-eyed-blonde-haired-Caucasian was waiting for their return. Krystal stopped, hiding behind Rick's pants leg when she saw the herd of walkers pounding on the door. Their faces looked like the same ones that ripped her parents apart back at the hotel. She swallowed, tiny fingers holding onto Rick's pants leg.

Rick backed up, "Put the gun down."

"I outta kill you assholes right where you stand!" The blonde woman seethed, her whole body was shaking with rage.

"C'mon, ease up!" The African woman pleaded, trying to pull the blonde's arm down. She shoved the other woman's hand off her wrist, then shoved her off herself.

"Ease up?!" She exclaimed loudly, obliviously frustrated. "Are you kidding me?! These fools got us all dead! We're all dead cus of you!"

"I don't understand," Rick blinked, pulling the little girl behind him.

"I do" Krystal muttered, only to be hushed by him.

"We came into the city for scavenging supplies," The Spanish male huffed, rubbing at his temples. "Do you know what the key to survival is? Sneaking in, and Sneaking out, tip-toeing and being silent, not popping out rounds for every last damn geek in the city to hear!"

"You just rang the dinner bell," The African woman said slowly.

"Get the picture now?" The blonde sneered, clicking the gun again, pulling back the trigger. "The world ended a few days ago or did you not get the memo when you dragged your asses over here?"

Rick didn't know what to say to that. He actually did just wake up in the hospital a few days ago, unsure of what went down. The world around him reeked of death, a stench that he would never be able to forget again in the rest of his days. It didn't help that the stench followed him and anyone else that was living everywhere they went.

He lowered his hands, "So you mean to tell me that you're just going to kill all three of us, including this scared lil' girl here? You're not giving a good impression to her, or anyone else in this room."

"You shut up!" The woman grouched.

"Alright, " Rick looked down at the ground, he spat on it. "Fine. Pull the trigger, kills us all just cus you feel like it, then wonder why the rest of them bastards out there get excited from that and break down the glass they're leaning on."

The woman lowered her gun at that, deflated. She sighed, "I hate you so much right now."

"I know, but you'll thank me later," Rick replied.

"Thank you, Andrea," The African woman patted her on the shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze.

"Meh," The woman called Andrea huffed.

"Whose the kid wit ya'll, officer friendly?" The Spanish man asked.

"Krystal," Rick introduced for her. He could tell that she was too meekish and shy to say anything around them, and he didn't blame her after the stunt Andrea just pulled with that gun. He had a feeling that it was going to be a while before she warmed up to them. "Mine's Rick. Glenn there saved us up there on the roof top,"

"I'm Moralas," The Spanish man turned to everyone in the room as he said their names, "That there is T-Dog, Andrea, and Jaqui."

T-dog mockingly saluted them, while Andrea scoffed and rolled her eyes. Jaqui smiled, giving a small wave. Krystal waved back with a quiet and squeaky "hi".

"Mind telling' us why you were shootin' your rounds like that?" Morelas asked, hands on his hips.

"I saw a helicopter a while ago," Rick replied. "I was tryin' to get it's attention,"

"A helicopter?! Pfft," T-dog snorted, throwing his hands at him, "Man, please, you were hallucinating,"

"I saw it too," Krystal said.

"So did I," Glenn said. "I already told him it was a bad idea, he didn't listen 'cus he's a dumbass."

Rick rolled his eyes. "There's a more important matter at hand here," He eyed the walkers pounding at the glass door behind them, there snarling and monstrous barks getting louder and louder. The glass was starting to shatter. Krystal must've noticed, because she pulled back even further, her hands gripping onto the weapons attached to her belt. Sweat rolled down her forehead and cheeks, adrenaline pumping through her blood.

"We need to get out of here," Rick continued. "Now!" He motioned for everyone to follow him into the back of the department store's ware house, Krystal and the others following closely behind him.

* * *

"Maybe we can contact the others," Jaqui mentioned, the last one entering the room as the door closed shut behind her.

"Others?" Krystal asked, looking up at Jaqui expectantly.

"Are there refugee camps out there?" Rick questioned, "More survivors?"

"Yeah," Jaqui rolled her eyes, sarcasm laced in her every movement and wording. She folded her arms, "They got biscuits and coffee waitin' in the oven for us."

In the back of the ware house, T-dog fiddled around with the radio, desperately trying to get a signal. His eyes were full of nerve-wrecking emotion. He cursed when he realized he wasn't going to get a connection, tossing the radio down before him. "Nutin'. Maybe the roof top will give us a better clearing."

Rick picked up the small radio, shoving it into his pocket as Glenn handed him the walkie talkie. The only thing emitting from both of them was headache-bearing static.

Jaqui was about to open her mouth when bullets were heard firing above them. She stopped, slapping her palm into her forehead.

"Oh no, is that Dixon?" Andrea groaned.

"What is that idiot doing up there?!"

"C'mon, let's go," Glenn said, ushering everybody up the stairs to the roof top.

* * *

On the top of the roof, the man called Dixon was shooting randomly at the walkers below. He whooped loudly, apparently killing some of them. Krystal glared at him, disgusted immediately by his whole being. She could tell that he was nothing but trash based on his behavior. The drool off the sides of his mouth didn't do him any justice, either.

"Hey man, are you crazy?!" T-dog yelled. Krystal was wondering the same thing.

"Oh jeez," Andrea rolled her eyes, and Jaqui was about to head towards him, but Rick stopped her as Moralas held a hand out in front of them.

"Ya'll need to be polite wit' a man wit' a gun!" Merle grouched proudly.

"As if you know anything about manners," Krystal grumbled.

"You," Merle pointed the rifle at her. "If yous was any prettier, I'd fuck ya up good, bitch. You'd enjoy it so much, ya'd hav' nothing' else 'a say after that!"

"You're wastin' bullets that we don't got!" T-dog growled at him, "put that shit down, man!"

"The day I take orders from a nigga is the day the world ends," Merle taunted. "Oh wait, it did! Opps!" He shot at one more walker beneath them.

"Wat you just say to me?!"

T-dog saw red, and threw Merle down to the floor. The gun flipped out of his hands and skidded across the floor near the edge of the roof top. Merle flipped ontop of T-dog, Krystal yelped as she watched, Jaqui shielding her from the violence, covering her eyes so she didn't have to see the two of them beat each other down into bloody pulps. Jaqui figured that the poor girl saw enough as it was already when Rick found her, she didn't need to see humans getting this way on her as well. Krystal burried her face into Jaqui's waist.

"Stop it!" Andrea yelled.

Merle ignored her, stomping around like he owned the place, "We gonna have ourselves a little pow-wow here! I say we take a vote and talk about whose in charge! I vote me! Oh c'mon, whose in favor?! Let's see a show of hands!"

Everybody was silent, waiting for what was going to happen next. After the violent act, Jaqui had released Krystal from her protective hold. She slowly raised up her hand, giving Merle a big fuck you.

"Alright," Merle nodded, pleased with himself. "Anybody else!?"

Rick marched forward, pulling Merle back after he struck him with a pipe. So he wouldn't be able to escape and fight back, he held him down with a head-lock. T-dog managed to crawl away with a bloodied nose and a swollen muscle under his eye. He spat blood onto the ground, wiping the rest of it off his cheek.

Are you fucking kidding me?" Merle gasped under the hold. "What're ya gonna do, officer? Arrest me?!"

Rick didn't say anything during the whole scenario, he was just too pissed off to even think of a good come back against him. He wiped out some hand cuffs, hooking Merle onto the pipe line on the roof. He shoved Merles face into the pipes so hard that he had blood pouring down his face. He gripped the back of Merles head and yanked him back, speaking threateningly into his ear. "That's exactly what I just did. You're going to sit up here and rot like the pig you are. And if you ever, EVER lay your hands on a little girl or anyone else I know again, and we cross paths, you can expect to not see another day. Are we clear on that?"

"Man, fuck you!" Merle snarled, "You ain't got nothing' on me!"

For good measure, Rick kicked him in the back of his head with the heal of his boots. It was enough to cause Merle to see stars and daze him. He didn't say anything else after that. He scrapped his heals onto the ground as if he was cleaning up dirt off his boots. Himself and the rest of the group, ignoring what went down earlier, went back into the basement to figure out a plan on escaping the city alive.

* * *

The group head down even further into the basement, all lined up against the sides of the sewers.

"This is it?" Morales asked.

"Yep," Glenn replied. "I'm goin in."

"We're right behind you," Andrea stood next to him, ready to jump into the line of fire. Glenn held her back, pushing her gently away from him.

"it's best I do this on my own," He said.

"Why?" Andrea furrowed her eyebrows in disappointment.

"I know this city like the front and back of my hand," Glenn pinched the middle of his nose, rubbing it with his fingers after a short pause. "I scooped this place out the last few times I was out here. If I bring you guys and there's a herd of walkers down in the sewers, everybody's screwed. I see it happen in horror movies all the time; group goes in together, hardly any of 'em make it out alive. I'm quiet, quick and fast. I'll be outta there before anything notices I'm there,"

He sighed, "No offense guys, but trust me when I say on this that I know how these things go down."

"None taken," Rick said. The rest of them nodded their responses as well, except for Krystal, who was silently watching from behind.

"Alright," Glenn said nervously, voice almost a whisper, "I'm going in. The rest of you head back up."


	3. Guts

The group finally high-tailed it out of the city and made it into the camp that was set up in the mountains.

Krystal was silent so far the whole way there, and for some strange reason, was immediately attached to Rick during the whole "escape the city full of walkers by using blood and guts, only to get it all washed off by the rain and nearly killed by the zombie swarm" incident.

The group in the van figured it was because he showed a lot of protection due to him being a police officer.

She stumbled out of the vehicle, quickly followed by Andrea, Jaqui, T-Dog and Moreles. The only one not in the van was Glenn; he pulled up behind them with loud blaring music, angering those in the camp.

A man with a fishing hat on came out, yelling at Glenn to shut it off.

"I can't!" Glenn laughed , stepping out into the open. "I don't know how!"

Rick ran towards his wife lori, and his son Carl. He picked her up slightly with a peck on the cheeks as Carl tackled into his sides, crying tears of joy.

"At least somebody's having a good day," Hummed Andrea standing beside another police guy. She had just finished telling him, and everybody else at the camp about what happened in the city. "nobody's gonna be pissed about Merle not being back 'cept Daryl."

"Daryl?" Rick's friend, Shane, asked.

"Merle's brother."

There was rattling in the background, three kids arguing over a toy:

"Give it back!"

"No!"

"I found it first! Give it back!"

"No!"

"Mom! She won't give me back the toy!"

"Both of you shut up," The mother barked at them, taking the toy out from their reach and holding them apart from each other by the scruff of their shirts, "You're loud enough to wake the dead! And I'm not joking on that one, either. Pipe down, I don't wanna hear another word out of you two, under stand?"

"Yes' ma'amn.." Both of the kids answered, disheartened.

"Give the toy back, Maria." The mother sighed, "You can play with it when he's done."

Meanwhile, another young boy tried to readjust himself on the stone rock his mother sat himself on. Of all things in the word to sit on, a rock was the best thing she could find? And on top of that, making him sit on it for almost all afternoon in the blaring sunlight? He knew he shouldn't be complaining too much, but it was taking his mother too long to finish the rest of his hair cut. There was also the fact that it was hot (he did mention that already, right?)

Krystal approached the group of kids, smiling as she sat down. She was a little quiet, and didn't join in their conversations. She poked at the ground with a stick as the kids beside her played tag near the campfire log.

He eyed her carefully, trying to get a good look at her. His mother yanked his head back, "ow! Hey! That hurt!"

"If you keep moving, it'll take longer, baby," His mother said softly, brushing more strands of chocolate hair down.

"Hurry up already," Her son scoffed, "I hate this!"

"If you think that's bad," One of the guys standing near the pond chuckled, "Just wait until you start shaving, then come back to your mother and start complaining. Shaving stings so bad that you' d be wishin' for one' o yer mother's hair cuts!"

"I'll believe it when I see it," The boy rolled his eyes.

"Tell ya what," The young man chuckled again, a bit louder, approaching him with his hands on his hips. "If you can get through the day with a lot more manly dignity than you're showin' right now, I'll show ya how to catch some frogs."

"I know how to catch frogs," The boy pouted.

"No, I'll teach you a technique," The man's chuckling turned into a wild laugh, "catching frogs is an art! Few people know about it, but I'm willing to share some secrets! "

"Really?" The boy piped up.

"I'm a girl here," Krystal chimed in, "So I guess I'm out of the deal , hunh?"

"Nah," The man waved her statement off, "n' body can join in! Ya sure you want to though? Most girls usually hate this sorta thing."

"Better than sitting around here doing nothing all day," Krystal nodded, standing up from the log to join Shane's side.

From afar, Rick watched Krystal interact with the group of campers, and he smiled. When he met her, she was very skeptical, very skiddish and shy of her surroundings. He heard her speak once, but she's very soft spoken. The fact that she was communicating with the group around her showed him that she wasn't afraid of socializing, she just doesn't say much when there isn't much needed to be said in the first place.

"I'm taking the kids out when your done, Lori," Shane said, giving her a wink. "What'cha think? That okay?"

"As long as you keep them away from the woods," Lori replied, pulling a final tug on Carl's hair, "I don't see why not."

"Ow!" Carl yipped, "Mom!"

The kids in the area laughed as his mother turned his head forcefully again, laughing harder as he started whining about the hair cut hurting.

* * *

[show opening / intro]

* * *

Down in the pond below the mountains, Lori watched as Shane, Carl and Krystal splattered around in the water. They were laughing as they played around. Lori shook her head at the gang as they fought in game of catching frogs, only to come out of it each and every time empty handed. She turned, heading back to camp, buckets of fresh water and clothing pins in her hands.

The group of frog catchers stopped to catch for breath, collapsing onto the sandy banks.

"Looks like the winner's Krystal," Shouted Amy, Andrea's sister, from her spot against the laundry area the women of camp set up.

"Here," Krystal was going to hand Carl her frog that she managed to get, "Want it?"

"No way," Carl shook his head, "You caught it, you should keep it."

Krystal shrugged. "If you're sure."

By the time Shane, Krystal and Carl finished collecting the nets and empty buckets, a obese man decided to show up, ruining the moment between the gang by the water with his asshole attitude. He called for the woman with curly hair, tapping the butt of his cigarette to get the dirt out.

"She doesn't have to go with you!" Andrea argued.

"And I don't hafta listen to you just because you're some little snot nosed bratty college know-it-all," The man huffed. "Carol, get over here. NOW!"

Carol stood, but was held back by Jaqui and Amy. The group of girls started arguing as the woman's husband grabbed her by the arm. From where the kids and Shane were sitting at, it was like watching a tug of war between victim, the group of women, and the victim's abusive husband.

Krystal and Carl watched in horror as the fight between the women and that brute of a man took place. They were going to high tail it back to camp, but Shane held his hand out in front of them to stop them. He told them to stay put and not to watch as he ran up towards the group.

The man shouted at him to back off; of course, Shane wasn't listening. He was beyond pissed. He grabbed the man and shoved him to the ground. Straddling himself on top of him, he proceeded to beat the asshole across the face several times. It was so bad that his face was barely recognizable by the time Shane stopped.

He yanked the guy by the collar when he was finished, "If I see you lay a hand on Carol or anybody else in the damn camp, I won't stop when I beat your face in, you hear me? I will not hesitate to KILL you if you endanger anybody in our group like this again!"

Carol ran towards her bruised and battered husband, crying loudly, sobbing about how sorry she was as she kneeled down beside him. Shane stood up, wiping the remaining sweat out of his forehead. He motioned for the kids to follow him back up to the camp. Nobody really understood why she wept for a man that abuses her. Krystal didn't get it either. It was a headache trying to figure it out!

As the old saying goes, to each their own.

* * *

Night time fell, everything going good even after Rick left to bring back Darl's dick of a brother and to get the bag of guns that he dropped on the road.

Lori didn't agree. In fact, she _hated_ the idea of him going back for a man who wouldn't do shit for them in the first place. She finally gave in when he told her why it was his duty to go back, Carl didn't want him to go at all, and Krystal didn't blame him. She had been out there before, and it was crazy to go back for a guy who didn't give a rat's butt about either of them. Krystal figured it was just due to the cop that was in him.

Morality and all that good stuff still existed even in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Krystal kind of didn't understand why folks just called them "walkers" or "biters". They were zombies from every man's horror movie ("shawn of the dead", anyone?), plain as day, but this group seemed to either not know about that or just called them as they see them.

Krystal rolled her eyes as Dale, the man who introduced himself to her earlier that morning when she arrived at camp, began to explain why he always winded the watch every chance he got.

She was barely paying attention, nearly falling asleep as Amy announced that she was going to use the bathroom and go to bed.

"So you use the watch even though it's the end of the world?" Krystal asked, tilting an eyebrow at him.

Dale shook his head, "It's not the end, lass. It's the beginning of the change of the world. Think of it that way, eh? Then it wouldn't seem so depressing."

Everyone around the campfire nodded their heads. They would have continued with their laughing and camp fire songs, but it was interrupted when Amy came back out with a question about where are all the toilet paper, followed by a scream of painful horror and anguish. The group sitting around the camp fire immediately stood up, gathering closely together to keep the zombies from trying to bite or pull at them.

Thankfully around the same time, as if on que, Rick, Daryl, Glenn and T-dog arrived from their trip back into the city and began popping off rounds, blowing out zombie heads one by one.

The campers that weren't with the camp fire group scattered and screamed, all of them eaten alive (some painfully nibbled on). The whole camp was swarmed with zombies to the point where Krystal lost count of them all. She huddled against the RV next to Lori, Carol, Carl, Dale and Jim.

She tried not to look at their fallen comrade on the ground. She heard Andrea yelling and screaming for Amy. It was a heart wrenching, gutting sound that gave an sharp ache in the pit of your chest, a sound of anguish that she never wanted to hear again.

It took a while, but finally every last zombie was put down. There had to have been at least thirty of them. Krystal grimaced at the sight before her. The two kids that had been arguing the day before about the toy were eaten from the waist line down, guts and rotten blood splattered about across from where they lay.

Their mother was laying on top of them, ripped apart in the same manner. She lost her limbs. The family had unfortunately all been bitten in the head when the zombies started invading the camp from where they set up their tents. Krystal's heart clenched at more ripped apart bodies from even more campers that she met from the other day. Krystal couldn't take anymore. She shoved Carl and his mother out the way, and ran to hide inside the RV with a sob for her fallen campers.

The whole thing reminded her of when her parent's sacrificed themselves for her so that she could escape the zombie swarm in the hotel they were staying at. It was a memory that she thought she would be able to lock away and never look at ever again, but much to Krystal's disgust, things like this was probably going to keep bringing that horrific sight back over and over again.

* * *

Next morning, the horror fest calmed down a little.

Everyone stood by Andrea as she watched her dead sister on the ground. She finally bled out, even Andrea was covered in a large amount of blood. Her sister ran out of blood to bleed from.

"Shouldn't we stop her?" Asked Carol, blood on her from when she had finished hacking away at her dead husband with an ax.

"No," Lori replied, "Let her grieve."

* * *

An hour or so set in, the sun was blazing down onto the group's backs. Carl excused himself to go into the RV (he wanted to see if Krystal was okay). After he disappeared into the van, Shane approached to warn Andrea that her sister needed to be put down, but was met in the face with a clicked back, ready-to-be-fired-pistol.

"I know how the safety works," Andrea grouched at him.

Holding his hands up in defeat, Shane backed up, returning to the group at the RV.

Amy came back, she still looked like the same beautiful and intelligent young girl from the nights before this happened. Andrea held onto her head as she snarled and growled, weakly trying to claw at Andrea's face.

Andrea's face was caked with blood, but she didn't care. All she cared about was the young girl laying in her arms.

"I'm so sorry, Amy," Andrea wanted to hug her despite the risk. She held her hand behind her sister's head instead. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I wasn't ever there for you, and the day I am there for you, this happens. It's all my fault! I'm really, really sorry, but I can't take it back! I can't go back through time! If I could, I'd do anything to prevent this from happening to you! I can't take it back."

Amy was about ready to take a chomp out of her sister's face. Removing her hands from around Amy's head, Andrea pulled back the trigger, brains from Amy splattered all over the ground.

"Amy," She breathed heavily after the shot, her face moist with tears and stained blood. "I love you."

* * *

They finished gathering all the bodies.

Daryl flipped his shit when he realized that Jim's been bit. It took Shane and Rick to keep Daryl and the group from trying to attack him.

"We don't kill the living!" Rick ordered.

"Tch," Daryl snorted, "That's funny, comin' from a guy with a gun pointing at my head. Fuckin' hypocrite. " He put up his cross bow.

"We need to burn the victims," Uttered Jaqui. "That way they won't be left looking like this."

"No!" Glenn emotionally yelled. "We don't burn our people! We bury them!"

The group were hesitant to go anywhere near the victims at first. It took some more encouragement from Glenn, Shane and Rick before they all finally agreed to bury the bodies.

"Need help?" Rick asked Andrea after planting a few bodies into the holes Jim made.

"I got it," Andrea sighed.

"You sure?" Shane piped in, this seemed to only anger her.

"I said I got it!" She barked, glaring at the two men in front of her.

They backed up, heading out to the road where their cars were waiting for them.

* * *

**A/N: I know what you guys are thinking. This story is slow and boring!**

**Uh, duh. It's supposed to be at first, character relationship building takes a while in real life. I'm tired of all these OCs that already knows a member of the group, or are self inserted characters, or if they don't know a group they already make friends with just about everyone including the jerk Daryl Dixon.**

**Welp, I'm not gonna do that! It's gonna be a build up, zomg slow and boring character introduction from here on out. *salutes* **

**And as always, review! If you review, you get digital cookies and hugs! **


	4. CDC

The next stop after the camp was CDC.

The group left Jim behind. Krystal didn't know what to feel about anything after it happened. She road in the car with Rick and his family to avoid Andrea, unsure of how to deal with the situation with her sister.

They arrived at the building, it was huge, with pillars on both sides. The glass doors stood tall and proud despite the dead and fly covered carcasses all around. It looked like some of the workers and military tried to escape, but didn't make it pass the front gates.

A helicopter lay from the distance that the group was walking towards, off to the side of them. It had smoke blaring off from the sides, the choppers themselves smashed into pieces. A few walkers were wondering around the helicopter and the dead soldier's bodies. Krystal and the gang covered their noses, coughing along the way to the building. The heavy smell was terrible, it was so strong that it made her gag and clogged her nose. She wanted to puke!

Rick approached the door. "Hello? Anybody home?"

"Looks like we have company," Daryl pointed his crossbow at the group of walkers behind them, "we're gonna be their next meal if we don't get a move on!"

"We gotta go Rick," Lori begged, tugging at his elbows. "They'll be on top of us if we don't!"

The camera moved.

"It moved! Someone's inside!"

"Even if it did," Shane grunted, frustrated, "they won't let us in! See those walkers behind us?! We gotta go, now!"

Krystal readied her ax while the others lifted their own weapons, the snarling getting louder as the walkers grew closer.

"Let us in!" Rick hollered at the camera. "We have women and children!"

"Rick, that's enough!"

Shane grabbed Rick by the shoulders. He was about to drag him away, but the doors flew open. The doors began to rise up, a glowing light so strong that it reminded Krystal of heaven. The group charged for the doors just in time. As soon as the doors slammed shut, the walkers from before pounded on them, leaving bloodied hand-prints against the glass. Rick and the others stared, hoping that the doors would sustain the amount of walkers that were pounding against it.

"Who are you?" Asked an elderly man from behind.

Rick turned to him, "Rick Grimes."

The mystery man folded his arms, annoyed at the group of newcomers. "What do you want?"

"A chance,"

"A chance is a lot these days," The scientist lifted something out of his pocket. "Anybody infected?"

"One of us was," Replied Rick, swallowing thickly. "He didn't make it."

The man nodded, leading the way through the halls, the lights in the corridors instantly flicking themselves on.

He didn't wait nor ask for the others behind him to follow. The group followed him towards the four-way corridors, the laboratory in the middle and the office on the right hand side. He lifted a palm and pressed it a few numbers to make the doors slide open, allowing the group in behind him, the doors automatically slamming shut promptly behind them. One by one, the group of ten out of eleven (Rick, Lori, Carl, Shane, Jaqui, Dale, T-dog, Carol, Sophia, Glenn) got their shot.

Krystal was the only one who didn't get hers.

"Alright now," The scientist said, smiling softly at her. "It's your turn."

Krystal shook her head.

"You need to, it's important,"

Even with that, Krystal still shook her head.

"C'mon baby," Jaqui said, smoothing her hair down behind her head. "It'll be all over in just a second. The longer you stand there, the longer it's going to take."

"Why does that sound familiar," Carl looked at his mother, who also smoothed his hair down, her fingers playing with the messy strands of his hair.

"If you go, you'll get all the sweets in the world that you want, if the doctor has any." Jaqui said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"…really?" Krystal asked quietly.

Andrea was amazed at how soft spoken she was, she barely heard her. It was obvious with the way that she was shaking, and desperately trying to hide herself behind them, that she was terrified of needles. Andrea also learned that she was able to make herself heard if she really wanted to be heard, but as soon as she got uncomfortable with what's around her, her voice went down to the level of "whispering-like-a-mouse". _  
_

Jaqui nodded. "Yes."

Krystal leaned her arm forward.

There was a pinch and a slight sting. She squeaked as the doctor cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol. She felt stupid and very embarrassed! She could take down walkers very easily, but was afraid of something a simple as needles?

She had the fear of needles and other tiny pointed objects for her whole life, but now with the apocalypse going on around her, it didn't make any sense to be afraid of needles, yet no matter how hard she tried to reason with herself, the feeling of a sting from a needle _still_ made her jump.

"There, all done." The scientist smiled warmly at her, patting her head, "See, wasn't so bad now was it?"

"What's your name?" Carl asked, the doors sliding open after Krystal ran off to join them. "You didn't tell us yours when you let us in."

"My name is Doctor Jenner," The man placed away his supplies.

"What's the point of taking our blood?" Andrea tried not to itch at the bandaged spot on her elbow. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I'm already breaking every last rule in the book by letting you in here," Dr. Jenner rubbed his eyebrows. "at least let me be thorough."

Krystal saw that he was very tired, worn out from research. He must've been in his thirties or older, with sandy blonde hair and aqua blue eyes. He had worry lines in his forehead and cheek bones, as if he had been sitting around thinking too hard (he probably was).

"Welcome to the CDC." He said, voice echoing against the walls. "We have some electricity and a bit of water to spare, but if you use the showers, make sure not to over do the hot water, and don't use any of the electricity."

"Wait." Glenn interrupted, almost doing a double-take. He grinned, "You have hot water?"

"_And _electricity?" Carl asked.

Sophia was standing in between Carl and Krystal. They all gave each other knowing smirks, ducked underneath the arms of the adults around them. They snuck away while the adults did the rest of their conversations and introductions. It was time for some exploring and a little fun for once. What harm could that do? Besides, they were tired of constantly running for their lives and looking around them every fifth teen seconds to make sure a walker wasn't anywhere near them.

"Yes, but there's not a whole lot of it left," Dr. Jenner sighed, rubbing at his temples again.

He looked over to where the kids were previously standing only to find them both gone. The remaining adults had also left after he finished showing them their rooms, the bathrooms, kitchen and lounging room. He shook his head as he went into the lab. What Dr. Jenner didn't tell them was that it wouldn't be long until the place cleaned itself up and destroys its surroundings.

He felt that it wasn't necessary to mention anything, and that it would be better to keep such vital information to himself. And besides, it's rare to find happiness in this strange world. It wouldn't be a crime if he allowed them to enjoy themselves for the two days the remaining building had left.

"Where's the kids?" Lori nearly panicked.

"I'll go get them," Carol squeezed Lori's shoulder gently.

* * *

The next morning, Krystal stretched, popping the sore muscles in her back. She got a good look around her room, her back pack and ax gathered underneath her bed. Her room was small, slightly cramped with space, but she couldn't complain either way. It's been a month sense she was in her own room. In the new world, she was starting to understand that good things like this didn't last very long in the world. She knew that all she could do was hope.

Carl took the room on the right side of hers, Carol and Sophia were across from her while Rick and Lori were on the left side of her. The others (Andrea, Dale, T-Dog, Shane and Glenn) seemed to be very scattered with the rooms further down the hall.

While the adults busied themselves with conversation, Krystal and Carl did a lot of exploring in the place, finding a game room with old school arcades! They were so excited that they begged Dr. Jenner to let them play some arcades, but the doctor wouldn't let them, and gave them some board games to keep themselves occupied instead. They pouted and groaned about it, but they didn't press the issue any further.

On her way to the breakfast/dining room area, Krystal noticed Dr. Jenner whispering something into Rick's ears. She wasn't sure what they were whispering about, and she didn't want to know anyway. She went to change and brush her teeth, if she was the first one in the shower she wouldn't have to wait around for the others to finish up.

* * *

Later on that evening, everyone met up at the dinner table.

"We didn't honor our guest properly," Rick said, the last one to get to the dining table behind the others. The rest were already sitting at the table with their dinner (hamburger steak, salad and steak fries that T-dog prepared them). "I say we give a toast to Dr. Jenner!"

"Boo-yah!" Daryl whooped, opening his own champagne bottle. More wine bottles were popped open (and several other bottles that Krystal couldn't recognize) as a chorus of 'boo-yahs' went around the room, followed by everyone's fits of laughter.

"Woo!" Whooped Daryl again, spraying champagne over the heads of the adults beside him. Jaqui laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair, Shane rolled his eyes as he passed the bottles around to the others.

"I say we let the little ones here have a few," Dale winked.

Lori scoffed, "Are you nuts? It's illegal for a kid to drink!"

Dale chuckled. "In France, it's completely legal for kids to have wine!"

"Well then," Lori reached for the tongs in the salad bowl, "When Carl's in France, he can have some."

"What about you, little lady?" Dale asked Krystal, handing the bottle to her. "Want some?"

"I don't see why not," Krystal shrugged. "I don't have parents to tell me no," She reached over to take a sip. Everyone stared, waiting for her response.

"Well?" Squeaked Sophia. She would've reached for it, but her mother popped her hands with the nearest fork. "What? She's drinking it!"

"Doesn't mean it's okay," Carol said, poking her daughter teasingly with the fork.

Krystal shivered, nearly coughing it up. "Ew. Gross!"

Krystal gave the bottle back to Dale and asked for juice to take out the bad taste of wine in the back of her throat.

As everyone ate, laughing with stories of the way things used to be, Rick and Lori gave each other a glance, cutting at their steak with the silver ware.

* * *

"Good morning," Krystal waved at them, taking her seat near Carl.

"Morning," Said Carl and Sophia.

T-dog came in with some freshly grilled eggs. Carol slid some eggs onto the center of the table. Andrea and Dale hurried with their eggs while passing around the breakfast food.

"Powdered," T-dog said, stirring the product in the bowl. "not the best in the world, but it's full of protein!"

Glenn groaned, holding onto the side of his head as he sat beside T-Dog and Carol. On his plate were egg and plenty of bread rolls.

"Don't EVER, let me drink again." Glenn groaned, Jaqui patting him on the shoulder. The woman removed the eggs, leaving behind only the bread rolls. She whispered something to T-dog, probably saying that giving any other type of food to Glenn right now while he has a hang-over would be a bad-idea.

"Mom said you guys were going to have a hang-over," Carl asked as his father sat down beside them.

"And she's absolutely right," Rick smiled, reaching over for a glass of water.

"The hell happened to you, brother?" T-dog demanded as Shane came in the room last, tilting his head after noticing Shane's scratch marks against his neck. Shane cursed under his breath, thankfully, no one noticed that. "Ya'll look like a cat gotta hold'a ya."

Krystal looked up at them, pushing eggs around on her plate. T-dog's personality was always an over-exaggeration of everything. Usually, she wouldn't give those kind of people any type of attention what so ever, sense hyper-active people tend to bother her, but she didn't mind with T-dog.

T-dog was helpful, offering a hand with everything including the preparation of food and going on supply runs. He gave advice where it was needed, and was in general a very nice guy all around. Krystal learned from T-dog that looks could be deceiving. Just because you dressed like a gangster, talked like one and acted like one didn't make you a person that should be stayed away from. The more she hung around him, the more she found out about him. Just yesterday, she discovered that T-dog's real name was Theodore.

She didn't know what to feel about Shane. He kept giving her mixed signals, coming off as creepy to her. Sometimes he felt like a good guy, then there was days like today where he gave off a vibe that was nothing but creepy. She asked Carl about it earlier that morning when they were getting dressed, but Carl said nothing but praises about him, saw him as his hero.

Krystal didn't know what to think of the guy, but the marks on his neck made her very suspicious of him. She noticed Glenn groaning with his head down, feeling somewhat sorry for him.

"I must've did it in my sleep," Shane muttered, sitting down. T-dog put the rest of the eggs on his plate.

"Not like you, man," Rick swallowed a mouthful of food, along with a sip of wine.

"No," Shane started picking up pieces of egg with his fork. "It's not like me at all."

"I hate to ask a question so early in the morning," Dale began.

"But you're gonna ask anyway," Dr. Jenner responded.

"What're you guys doing here?" Dale wiped wine off of his beard. "Weren't they more of you?"

"Some," Dr. Jenner answered. "Not anybody left, though."

"In any case, I don't think we came all the way up here for the eggs," Andrea looked up at the scientist expectantly. Everyone fell into an awkward silence.

After breakfast, Dr. Jenner stood up, asking everyone to follow him to the lab room.


	5. TS19

"V" Said Doctor Jenner, typing away at the computer. "Show them TS-19."

"_Scanning_," Said the rather creepy robotic voice, "_Test subject 19._"

"Nobody has ever gotten the chance to see these," Doctor Jenner stated, taking a step back as he allowed the rest of them to watch.

The screen popped up, it was the brightest thing Krystal has ever seen. She was sure everyone else was just as amazed as she was.

"Is that a brain?" Asked Carl.

"A extraordinary brain," Jenner said simply. "Not that it matters anymore. These are synopsis, they carry the thoughts, feelings, experiences and memories of everything the person had been through. It's what makes each person unique and different, it's what makes you, YOU. " He pointed, showing them the very center.

"What are those little red dots?" Carl asked again, just as the said 'dots' started to appear vividly all across the center of the screen. They were spreading out, taking over the brain until what was left of the sparkling blue was completely gone. The whole brain was a burning red.

"That's the virus." Jenner replied, "It invades the brain like meningitis. The brain goes into shut down, then, the major organs. Then death. Once it takes you, you are no longer you. There is no you once your gone. Everything you ever were or ever will be, gone. Youv'e seen that before, haven't you?" He asked, looking at Andrea.

Andrea slowly nodded. She turned, fighting back tears.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Asked Sophia.

"Yes," Said Carol.

"Andrea lost someone dear to her two days ago, " Explained Lori.

"Don't worry, I know how devastating it feels," Jenner placed a comforting hand on Andrea's shoulder.

"Scan the second event,"

_"Scanning second event."_

Just as he said that, a bullet went through the victim's brain, reminding Andrea of what happened to Amy. The video ended, and the projection screen was also closed up. She turned her head away for a moment, before looking back at Jenner, with a expression between a cross of a glare and disbelief.

"Though the time of reanimation varies, there are reports of it happening in under as little as three minutes. She restarted in three seconds."

"The person reanimates?" Asked Jaqui.

"No, just the brain stem." Replied Dr. Jenner. "The person is dead."

"What the hell was that?"

"He shot the patient through the head."

"Wait a minute, the test subject was a she?" She asked, eyeing Dr. Jenner carefully as she noted his pained expression. "Was she somebody you knew?"

"Yes." He said. "TS-19 was my wife."

The room grew quiet afterward, everyone suddenly awkward and unsure of what to say or how to approach Jenner. Andrea was the only one who did.

"Is there a cure?" Questioned Andrea. "Is there anyone left anywhere? France, Europe, Japan, maybe?"

"France was the longest to hold out," Jenner sighed, looking down, arms folded. "But after we lost contact with them, we knew it was game over."

"So there's nothing left..." Andrea nearly fainted. If Dale hadn't been standing beside her, she probably would have. He kneeled her down to the floor, rubbing her back.

"Yes, that's right. The world we once knew, is gone."

Krystal wasn't so surprised to hear that.

_Before things got worse at the start of the fall of Atlanta, her father said that they weren't going to be able to fix it, that it was a problem far greater than any government or disease center could ever fix. _

_At first, she and her mother believed that he was just being pessimistic, or maybe he was strained down from work and needing to evacuate their homes for precautions. He was working on post the day that it happened and was ordered to come home immediately, and evacuate his family if need be. When he saw the ...whatever they were, walking outside, he and his family didn't waste any time with grabbing their things and leaving as soon as possible, avoiding any and all contact with the things. _

_When they found a place to stay at the hotel downtown, they were told that it was a "safe" zone and that the monsters wouldn't be able to get into the hotel. The military patrol there made them all feel safe, and it helped that her father worked along with them. He was downstairs when it happened with his crew, trying to help. He wasn't going to sit back and watch them do it by themselves, he was the type to always pitch in no matter how risky it was. _

_Krystal's father was her and her mother's hero. He was a major, been in the army for under 45 years and planned on staying until general and THEN retiring. _

_They had so many hopes. So many dreams._

_Now all of them, including her parents, were gone. _

_She remembered the screams as the monsters burst through the door, somehow managing to attack right through the helmets of the military that was posted at the front door, there was a swarm of them knocking down the barricades, the fences and any other types of defenses put up in front of the large, almost 100 foot tall building that they and the remaining survivors were staying in. It became apparent very quickly that any place deemed a "safe" zone was no longer safe once those things breached past security, and these were the best men they had in the force. _

_They kept coming, swarming in on them, and eventually, there was a panic. People started running, some people were trampled to death on their way to escape the monsters. _

_Her mother immediately grabbed her underneath her arms, forgetting about her luggage and ran outside. She knew that if they stayed inside, they had no chance of survival once all of them started rioting. _

_She sat her daughter down, looked her directly in the eye, and told her to stay put. Her mother promised that she was going to get her father, and bring him back. She gave her a weapon that she didn't even know how to use. Her mother showed her in three simple steps, just point and click. That was all she had to do. Point and click. She now had plenty of survival gear on her that her parents gave her, a machette, ax and a gun._

"_HENRY!" She heard a scream. She and her mother knew that name. _

_Her mother turned and saw the men getting torn to shreds by the beasts. Her mother knew that they had no chance of retrieving anybody from that crowd. She had to make her daughter believe that her father was going to come out of there like he always does, that he was a fighter and a warrior and a hero. Which, to be honest, they believed he was all three deep in the bottom of their hearts. _

_Her mother wouldn't let her see no matter how many times she asked, she was tucked underneath her mother's arms again, and they ran further down the streets to get away. She failed to notice the monsters following them as they skidded around a ally to hide in. She placed her daughter behind the trash can, telling her that she would fight them off. She said to open the gate at the fence, and run, to not look back or stop running. _

_She wasn't counting on meeting glen that day. If not for that, she wouldn't have made it. He dropped down a latter for her and the fellow police officer that had also ran down that ally, bringing them both up to the roof top for safety._

She was brought back to reality once the adults around her started to argue. She and Sophia covered their ears and ducked their heads under Carol's arms as they argued over whatever it was they were arguing over.

"Stop it right there, or I'll blow your fucking head off!"

"Hey man, chill," Rick held his arm out while T-dog held the redneck back.

"Chill for what?!" He bellowed, "This asshole obviously wants us all to die in here! I ain't havin that! How bout we rip em one?!"

"Do that, and we won't be able to get out of here, dumbass!" Shane growled, pushing the man away from them both. "Do I have to chain you down? Cus I will if it comes down to it!"

"Fuck you!"

"Alright, that's enough!" Rick once again shouted. "We came here for one reason and one reason only, and that was to get information that we aren't obviously going to get. We need an escape route. And if we kill this guy, we ain't getting that either. Do you'all wanna live or die?"

"We can't die like this," Carol weeped as she held Krystal and Sophia close to her, "Not like this…."

Jaqui would've said something, but she kept her mouth shut during the whole thing.

Carl was also huddling under his mother for comfort, crying, as his mother shushed him and brushed his hair down. They were all scared, but keeping a leveled head was what was going to get them out of this situation. Rick knew better. He gave a nod to Shane, who proceeded to pin Daryl down by his neck.

"Open the gate." He demanded.

"Why?" Dr. Jenner asked. "There's no hope out there for us now. You saw the video, what it does to the infected victims, and the fact that there's no one left. There's nothing left. You said it yourself."

"You said what?!" Lori gasped.

Rick swallowed. "I may have said that," He looked around the room, at each person, before turning back to Dr. Jenner, "But we don't deserve to die like this. We would rather survive. In order to beat this world, we gotta fight. If you wanna sit in here and rot, so be it, but the rest of us are gettin', now open that god damn gate!"

"Ya'll are crazy, but okay," Dr. Jenner finally gave in. He supposed he was sorta right; people had the right to do what they wanted to do. "You have twenty minutes to grab your things and get out."

Everyone started leaving immediately after that. Everyone except Jaqui.

T-dog went back for her, to pull her along with them, but she wretched his hand out of his hold.

"Are you nuts?!"

"Are you NUTS!" She spat back at him, "I ain't goin out there, there's nothing for me but death and blood!"

"This is insane, listen to yourself!" T-dog banged his head twice, out of frustration with both his palms. "C'mon!"

He went for the door, hoping that she would follow.

"C'mon!"

Still nothing. He rolled his eyes, sighed and left her.

Dale was sitting in the chair looking at Andrea, her usually bright blue eyes darkened with..something other than depression. It was something that Dale couldn't quite place. It wasn't right to him, and he wasn't going to leave Andrea there. Alone. Not like that.

"Why aren't you leaving?" She asked, slowly turning to him.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

"The tennis match game, hunh?"She scoffed, shaking her head. "Dale, you can't be in here."

"And you can't be in here either," Dale said. "You can't. How would your sister feel if you gave up like this."

"Excuse me?!" Andrea glared at him, "How dare you even bring her up."

"I brought her up because" He pointed at her, "You two girls taught me how to change. As far as I'm concerned, you girls had been the only ones that were able to do that after 50 years of living in pain and regret. You opened me up, warmed my heart, and showed me how to do better. How to be a better person. You don't just take that away from someone! And that, is, essentially what you're doing right now! I don't think you wanna be in here, Andrea. I'm not moving until you do."

"looks like we're stuck here, then." Andrea shrugged.

Slowly, she turned to the clock as it started counting down from 20. It was getting closer and closer to Zero. She knew that if they didn't leave now, they would both be blown to smithereens. She also knew that she didn't wanna die, but there was no way she was going to admit that to Dale, or anyone else for that matter.

Ignoring him completely, she got up, running as fast as her feet could take her. Dale was soon in behind her.

As soon as they jumped out the building, they scrambled for the mountain of military bags in front of glass windows. There was a loud explosion, thankfully everyone made it far enough to avoid injury and possible death.

Krystal went in the RV with everyone else, while Rick, Lori and Carl went into their own vehicle, followed by Daryl, Glenn and T-dog. It was then when she, and anyone else around her, realized that she hasn't said a word sense they met each other.

Silence took over the van as they sped past the smoke and flames.

There was no more world.

There never was going to be a cure. Her father was right.


	6. Too Far Gone

Krystal walked up to the front of the RV as it slowed down.

Andrea came up behind her, "Why are we stopping?"

"No fuel," Dale said. "We need to stock up on some more supplies anyway,"

"This is a graveyard," Andrea folded her arms across her chest, stepping back from the little girl and the driver with the (what Krystal thought was a stupid-looking) fishing hat.

"I don't like it either," Said Dale. "But we ain't gotta choice. Either we do that, or nothin', and I ain't going to be sittin' around here hopin' for somethin' to fall outta the sky, cus that ain't reality. I know you don't like this, none of us do, but look," He pointed to several of their other group members stepping out of their own cars and scurrying for supplies from the vehicles of dead passengers and drivers.

"I need fuel for my car, you're free to stay in here if you like." He finished, standing by the door, hands on his hips. He was ready to go.

"Little girl," He paused to get her attention, pointing the raw end of one of his old fishing hooks at her (he kept a collection of them in his pockets), "wanna come with me?"

Krystal eyed Andrea, who took further steps back from them. She shrugged and hopped out the door behind Dale.

* * *

Krystal finally said something.

"That girl's a wuss," Krystal huffed, grabbing water, clothing, food, and anything else she found that she believed would be helpful for them from out of a dead guy's trunk.

"Hey," Dale found at least two bottles of fuel that could keep them going for a little while. "Go easy on her, she's been through a lot. I'm sure we all have."

"Yeah, but," Krystal would have argued her reasoning behind that statement, but stopped. Dale always had a way with words. Even if he didn't say anything, he didn't have to most of the time, Krystal noticed very clearly that his eyes did all of it for him. If his words didn't get under your skin, his eyes definitely did.

"Never mind,"

"Krystal!" Carl shouted, jumping up and down. He was waving at her from afar with his mother, sophia and sophia's mother. She couldn't remember her name correctly. Cheryl? Carol? It was one of the two.

Krystal looked up. Idiot, is he trying to attract walkers?

She held back her laughter when his mother shushed him, forcing him to turn around and look for more supplies. Probably food and water, from what Krystal could see poking out of the trunk of someone's SUV. Looking around the highway, Krystal stepped around the dead bodies and objects sprawled about on the ground. Neither of them were paying attention to her.

She grabbed Carl on the shoulders, who jumped.

"Gotcha," Krystal giggled.

Carl rolled his eyes, "Look what I found," He grinned, showing her what was hidden under the camping gear in the car. It looked like the back had a bunch of children toys that Sophia and Carl's mother pulled out. They found some boxes full of the most important things, food and water, while leaving behind everything else.

"Jackpot!" Krystal and Carl said at the same time. Comic books.

"What are we gonna do with these though?" Carl sighed, "No way mom's gonna let me take these out,"

"That's where this comes in," Krystal took out her purple backpack, beginning to stuff comics in her bag. "Whenever I find something good on a outing for supplies, I'll bring 'em back for you."

"Really?" Carl's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah," Krystal said, smiling warmly.

Their moment was interrupted by Carol shouting about walkers approaching. Krystal's heart stopped when she heard the moans and groans of the dead approaching.

"Hide, now!" Lori ordered. "Get under the cars!"

Carl and Sophia ran underneath the cars for safety. Krystal was a bit on the too slow side, she was examining the walkers, who were far away enough to give everyone plenty of time to find a hiding spot. Krystal was studying them. Their movements: The way they stumbled, some of their arms limp or out stretched, some clawing and ripping at an invisible target in the air. What bothered her was the fact that all of those 'monsters' or 'walkers' used to be people at one point. They all had goals and dreams, ripped to shreds just like how they, themselves, appear to be now. Their sounds: The groans, the moans, the hisses and snarls. The danger: How being caught in a middle of a herd would place you exactly on top of their dining menu. A scratch or a bite wound was also just as dangerous.

Krystal gasped, the walkers were going to be up close to her soon. It wouldn't be smart to still be standing in a super herd of walkers, even if you managed to cover yourself in blood and manage to make yourself look like them. Taking a deep breath, she went under the next car that she found, bringing her backpack with her, hoping that it would be enough to hide her frame from them.

The walkers stumbled by, their moans and groans enough to embed themselves in anyone's memory for days after hearing them. The smell of the dead was enough to choke you, making it nearly impossible to breath. She held her breath hoping that she couldn't make any noise what so ever—anything of the sort would be enough to attract them to her.

Like it did to one of the kids in the car just now. Sophia shrieked when a walker went underneath the car to grab at her. Carl had tears in his eyes as Sophia scooted out from underneath the car, her body disappear into the forest off the side of the road. About two to three more walkers that pulled back from their herd thanks to the distraction followed her into the depths of the forest.

"Sophia," Carl whispered, "no."

Everyone waited for a clearing, not leaving their hiding places until the rest of the walkers disappeared into the distance.

"MY baby!" Carol cried, who would've ran into the forest if Rick hadn't grabbed her. "Those monsters are after m y baby!"

"I'll go get her, you stay put!" Rick disappeared into the forest.

* * *

A sharp scream came from inside the RV. A walker made his way inside.

Andrea tried to close the door to the bathroom, but the same walker pushed his hands through. With the screw driver that she picked up from the floor, she stabbed the creature several times in the eyes. Even after the creature fell, she proceeded to stab the hell out of it with a kitchen knife that she grabbed from the table.

She stood back, eying the bloodied mess on the floor. She spat at the beast, kicking him several times in the sides before finally grabbing his body and dumping him onto the road.

She's never felt so much rage in all her life.

* * *

"My baby, my baby!" Carol wailed, Lori doing her best to comfort her.

The sun was beginning to set, turning the skies into a dusky orange. It was almost night fall, Rick knew they had to stop for the night. It was disappointing and heart aching for him and Daryl, they went into the forest to get Sophia from her spot only to find her missing. Daryl stated the obvious before they went back to the highway to break the news to Sophia's mother and the group. Both Carl and Krystal had their heads down, standing next to Carol and Lori, watching, unsure of what to do or say as Carol wept.

"We can't just leave her out there," Lori protested. "She's just a little girl!"

"We need to find a place to settle down close by," Said Rick. "we'll find your daughter in the mornin.' I'm sure she'll be alright, she couldn't have gone too far."

"It's going to be okay," Lori comforted, but no matter what they said, Carol was sobbing, grieving as if her child had just died. Krystal didn't blame her; it was a frightening situation.

It was ironic how walkers can easily destroy everything in their path. They didn't have to try very hard at all to turn a nice day into an awful one, and that's what frustrated her the most about them.


End file.
